3 of the 10 corporations with the most industrial property rights applications at the European Patent Office are from Germany (2020). While German industry excels in terms of innovation, German citizens enjoy only limited prosperity, as shown in a new infographic from Block-Builders.net
Samsung filed the most patent applications last year. Huawei is in second place, followed by LG. Meanwhile, three German companies are also in the top 10 – Siemens, Robert Bosch and BASF. In a ranking of patent applications by country of origin at the European Patent Office Germany ranks second, behind the United States of America.
As shown in the infographic, the most applications for industrial property rights in the Corona crisis year 2020 were in the fields of digital communication and medical technology. However, if we go beyond the number of patent applications and instead look at German citizens’ assessments, then it is other companies that are at the forefront of innovation. Germans consider Too Good To Go to be particularly innovative, followed by Tesla, Veganz, Beyond Meat and PayPal.
Great Divide
Meanwhile, Germany ranks much lower in terms of purchasing power per inhabitant. The Federal Republic is only in 8th place in Europe, with great disparities within the country. Purchasing power is highest in Bavaria at €25,770 per inhabitant, whereas Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is at the other end of the scale at €20,387.
Despite being home to innovative global corporations and a high concentration of medium-sized companies, the Germans are not at the top of the league when it comes to wealth. The relatively high tax burden could be one of the reasons for this. Singles without children are asked to pay a particularly large share of the tax burden in Germany: the share of tax and social security contributions in the total labour costs for average earners is 49% in Germany, compared to an OECD average of just 24.4%.
Bild von FelixMittermeier auf Pixabay
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